General Hospital‘s Elizabeth Webber, played by Daytime Emmy nominee Rebecca Herbst, is a gentle soul and a loving mother, but she’s also a reminder that kindness should never be mistaken for weakness. Armed with the knowledge that her near-fatal car “accident” was caused by Kristina’s (Kate Mansi) tampering, Liz summoned the wire cutter to her home for a chat.

The request for Kristina to come on over wasn’t a request at all. The tone of voice Herbst infused her character with made the summons sound like a command.

General Hospital’s head nurse didn’t play cat and mouse with her assailant when she arrived. Instead, she got right into the matter. “I think you know,” Liz firmly stated when Kristina asked what the meeting was about.

Liz works in the medical field, but she maintained the command of a skilled district attorney who had a witness dead to rights on the stand. “Lucky told me you caused the accident,” Liz informed her guest, laying out the facts of her case. “You tried to kill Ava… instead, you nearly killed me and Ric.”

Not surprisingly, Kristina attempted to flimflam her way out of accountability, but Liz wasn’t buying what Kristina was peddling.

“I know you meant to hurt Ava, or, more accurately, you meant to kill her,” Liz pointed out as if Kristina’s desire to commit murder somehow justified the whole mess.

No matter how many times Kristina attempted to explain away her actions, if not justify them, Liz kept going at her. She wasn’t impressed by Kristina’s claim that she would have confessed all had Liz and Ric (Rick Hearst) gone to that great soap opera in the sky.

“Ric and I would be dead so we wouldn’t be impressed by your grand gesture,” Liz justifiably snarked. “Since we were just seriously injured, you decided to stay quiet… and you let Lucky cover for you.”

At this point, Kristina probably would have preferred to be back on the witness stand being grilled by Ric, or running into Ava at a Port Charles eatery and having another showdown with the woman she blames for the death of the baby she was carrying for her sister, Molly (Kristen Vaganos).

“The only reason I didn’t,” Liz said about contacting the police, “was that Lucky would have been charged as an accessory. Now that Lucky’s out of the country…” At this point, Kristina had reason to fear she was going to get a Pentonville storyline.

Fortunately, Kristina wasn’t facing Ava or Ric or the authorities; she was in front of Liz, who showed Kristina some mercy – after making her sweat profusely.

“I’m not going to turn you in, Kristina,” Liz said, letting her attacker off the hook (for now). “Your family’s been through enough after losing Sam. Molly would be devastated to know you almost killed her dad.”

Then, Ric, ironically, arrived, which prompted Liz to end her meeting with Kristina. As she made her way towards the door, Herbst had Liz literally stand in Kristina’s pathway. Physically blocking a scene partner from exiting a room is a subtle (but very effective) move. Liz doing this and glaring at Kristina intently were strong reminders to her that she was not off the hook.

Kristina’s been coddled over her cutting the brakes on Ric’s car by not only Lucky but also by her mother, Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn), who paid out millions to Ava to keep her daughter out of jail.

Viewers have been waiting for someone to thoroughly lambast Kristina for her actions and threaten her with accountability. The writers tasked Liz with that assignment and Herbst shined in the scenes. Kristina would do well to heed Liz’s warning that she better not pull anything like this again or else Liz will go to the police. Given Herbst’s performances, we believe her!

General Hospital, weekdays, ABC